*Chapter 7: Duel*

A seething Buddy made his way towards Soundstage 48 that was adjacent to Parking Lot A where the rest of his robot army laid in wait for him. He was nearly denial about his current situation, enraged that months of meticulous planning was now going down the plumbing. The Toon boy wouldn't have it. He wouldn't have those insidious know-it-alls get the better of him. With this last batch of robots, he would have them pick specific targets and make them self-destruct when they got close enough.

Buddy would get the last laugh indeed.

When he reached the parking lot however, he found his last remaining legion scattered in the street in pieces. A familiar blade stood in the midst of all the dented, sliced up metal with the keychains hanging from the kashira floating gracefully in the breeze. Thunder from the thick clouds overhead rumbled as daybreak came over the horizon.

"You know, it's really bad form for the host to leave the party before the guests."

Buddy spun around and saw Rem sitting on the roof of an adjacent soundstage, calmly kicking her feet back and forth. He gave her a malicious glare, but she remained completely passive.

"You..." Buddy hissed hatefully.

"Yep, just me." Rem replied simply. "I'm still willing to overlook all of this, if you just let me help you."

The Toon boy cast a quick gaze at Rem's swords, obviously considering snatching it.

"Think you're tough like that without that glorified ice pick?!" he sneered.

Rem arched a brow, choosing to ignore the insult.

(Now Playing: Paradise [What About Us?] by Within Temptation feat. Tarja)

"It's yours if you have the balls to wield it." she told him in a frank tone. "Besides, I've gotta start using these more often."

Rem pulled out a mallet and briefly rested it in her lap. Buddy emitted a hiss again and rushed towards her katana. Rem launched herself straight at him, intending to whack him with her mallet, but he managed to pull the blade out and block it.

'There's no sense, the fire burns

When wisdom fails, it changes all

The wheel embodies all that keeps on turning.

Blood red skies, I feel so cold

No innocence, we play our roll

The wheel embodies all, where are we going?'

Rain started to fall from the sky as the sun rose out into dawn untouched by clouds. While the metal from the sword kept the wood from the mallet at bay, Buddy felt an exhilaration being able to hold her off for the moment. The carnage high he got from the sheer desire to dispatch the teen once and for all drove him to take more vicious strikes at her.

'All in all,

You'd expect the wise to be wiser, fallen from grace and

All in all,

I guess we should've known better

'Cause-'

Rem was not alarmed, however. The katana was part of her, and she refused to fear it.

'What about us? Isn't it enough?

No, we're not in paradise

This is who we are, this is what we got

No, it's not our paradise

But it's all we want, and it's all that we're fighting for.

Though it's not paradise.'

But even now, she knew she had to take him out. Or at least incapacitate him enough so he could no longer be a threat. The rain completely soaked the two right through their clothes.

'You and us, or I and them

There comes a time to take a stand

The wheel is watching all, it keeps on burning.'

Rem used the elements to her advantage by sliding her foot across a puddle to blind Buddy with the fallen water. Buddy remained undeterred and was keen to avoid getting socked by her mallet, since it was the one thing that caused him great aggravation.

'The venom works, it's like a curse

A trojan horse, when will we learn?

The wheel embodies all that keeps returning.'

Since Buddy was simply jabbing and swiping at her with her blade, Rem easily blocked and evaded them. Her mallet on the other hand, was getting chipped to death, leading her to start deploying her martial art skills.

'All in all

You expect the wise to be wiser, fallen from grace and

All in all

I guess we should've known better,

'Cause-

What about us? Isn't it enough?

No, we're not in paradise.

This is who we are, this is what we got.

No, it's not our paradise,

But it's all we want, and it's all that we're fighting for.

Though it's not paradise.'

In hand to hand combat with Buddy, there wasn't much competition. Yet both were using their Toon speed to the nth degree to one up the other until it came to a point where both appeared to be evenly matched. Buddy was becoming increasingly frustrated and annoyed that Rem wasn't going down as easily as he would've liked. She was only half Toon for goodness sake. The negativity swirling around in his brain and lack of success in physically harming her caused him to lose focus slightly. Finally, they clashed weapons again, with him making a deep cut into her mallet and temporarily making them stuck together.

'What about us?

Isn't it enough?

No, we're not in paradise.'

"Come on, Buddy." Rem quietly pleaded. "At least try to work with me, here."

'This is who we are,

This is what we've got,

No, it's not a paradise.'

"Eat me, half breed." Buddy snarled.

A few seconds later, the two finally broke free of their deadlock.

'But it's all we want,

And it's all that we're fighting for.

What about us? Isn't it enough?

No, we're not in paradise.

This is who we are, this is what we got.

No, it's not our paradise,

But it's all we want, and it's all that we're fighting for.

But it's not paradise.'

Thunder gave another loud crackling roar as they each upped the ante. Buddy's assaults got fiercer and more violent as his patience wore extremely thin.

'What about us,

What about us,

What about us?

Isn't it enough?'

Rem was now getting overwhelmed with her stamina starting to run out. Her chest hurt from all the pumping her heart was putting into and the adrenaline losing steam.

'What about us,

What about us,

What about us?

Isn't it enough?'

Buddy saw this immediately, and went in for the kill. With one powerful swipe, he slashed her battered mallet clean in half. Rem was caught by surprise as the two pieces of wood hit the soaked asphalt below their feet. Now, she was virtually weaponless.

...Crap!

'What about us,

What about us,

What about us?

Isn't it enough?'

Grinning maniacally, Buddy continued to swing away, seizing his chance to do the teen in. Trying not to panic just yet, Rem quickly backed away as he charged at her, dodging every blow.

'What about us,

What about us,

What about us?

Isn't it enough?'

Suddenly, Rem saw the blade coming for her head and in instant of quick thinking, she raised her lower arms to shield herself. Instead, her left arm got slashed as a result, prompting a yell of pain and extremely dark red, almost black ink to spurt out. Just as Buddy was bringing the katanna down again, Rem reared back, ignoring the stinging pain of rainwater hitting her wounded arm, and clapped her hands flat onto the blade. Then, using her upper body strength, she thrusted the sword down and delivered a strong kick to Buddy's gut, sending him flying into the wall of a soundstage.

(End Music)